Jim got another prompt from Melanie for this week’s songfest: "amaze, astonish, curious, shock, surprise, wonder." The result: more blues!

"I Wonder" was from Robert Cray’s fourth album, Strong Persuader (1986). He wrote it, as he did most of his songs at this point. Cray was influenced primarily by Howlin’ Wolf, but here he sounds a lot like Otis Rush, both his singing and his guitar playing. There are also hints of Buddy Guy in both. Or maybe it’s the other way around. No matter: when I first heard this album, I said "this is what I’ve been waiting for!" Incredible guitar playing, great lyrics, Young Bob’s soulful voice… the blues was back. It actually had never left, but damn…

That’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for June 19, 2022.

Jim’s prompt for this week, "excitement, pleasure, sentiment, spirit," comes from Melanie. I have the perfect song…

"Rhapsody In The Rain" was written by Twyla Herbert and Lou Christie and released as a single in 1966, and was also on his 1966 album Painter Of Hits. The original version used language that sounded to program directors like they were having sex in the car, and wouldn’t play the record, so MGM Records had Lou do a less-controversial version. That version reached #10 in Canada, #16 on the Hot 100, #37 in the UK, and #40 in Australia. The original (dirty) version is below; you can hear the less provocative version here. As for the video to this, I have no idea why the young lady is dancing in the rain…

And that’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for June 12, 2022.

Melanie fed Jim another prompt for this week: "disgust, embarrassment, guilt, regret, remorse, shame." And I, naturally, went with a blues song…

"Goin’ Down Slow" is a song by St. Louis Jimmy Oden that’s considered a blues standard, meaning that there are many versions of it out there. This particular one is by Chester Arthur Burnett, aka Howlin’ Wolf. His is notable because the legendary Willie Dixon, who plays bass on the track, does the narration between the verses. Also on the track are Jimmy Rogers and Hubert Sumlin on guitars, Henry Gray on piano, and Sam Lay on the drums.

The lyrics were posted with the video…

That’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for June 5, 2022.

Jim gives us today’s prompt, "appearance, image, likeness, object, picture, photograph." I chose a song from the band Classics IV, a soft-rock outfit from Jacksonville, Florida. Many of the members of that band moved to Atlanta and became the Atlanta Rhythm Section.

"Traces" was written by Buddy Buie, J. R. Cobb, and Emory Gordy Jr. It was released as a single in 1969 and was the title track from their album from that year. It reached #2 on the Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts, #2 on the Canadian Top 100, and #1 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart.

I chose this video because the pictures looked like they were taken from my yearbook, even though I know they weren’t.

And that’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for May 29, 2022.

I chose two songs for this week, because Paula and Jim chose the theme of "Money, Gold, Silver, Rich" and I thought someone else would pick the first one, so I came up with two.

The first, "Money (That’s What I Want)," was written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford and originally recorded by Barrett Strong in 1959. The Beatles, who were playing in Hamburg in the early ’60’s, added it to their playlist because they were playing eight hours a night and needed material. They recorded it for their second UK album, With The Beatles (1964). Capitol split that album into two parts (and added several singles to each) and included it on their second album (third US Beatles album overall), appropriately called The Beatles’ Second Album (1964).

The second song is "Silver And Gold," from the 1964 Rankin/Bass Christmas special Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. It was written by Johnny Marks and sung by Burl Ives, who voiced the narrator Sam the Snowman. In the show, Burl sang just the first verse; on subsequent recordings, he sang the second verse as well.

And that’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for May 22, 2022.